The present invention relates to a disease type and/or condition determination method and apparatus, which enables a fast and reliable diagnosis to be made by identifying the specificity of cells and so forth based on physical aspects, and a drug screening method and apparatus, which enables efficient screening of a target drug.
There has been little research in the past that discusses, for example, the xe2x80x9cdefinition of cancer cellsxe2x80x9d based on the xe2x80x9cabsolute specificityxe2x80x9d of cancer cells relative to normal cells. Even with respect to carcinogenic genes and other cancer-related genes that have attracted particular attention in recent years, although there are currently reports stating that these are common to certain partial cell groups of cancer cells or are present in normal cells as well, these are merely a discussion relating to the xe2x80x9cpartial or relative specificityxe2x80x9d of cancer cells. In other words, research thus far has consisted primarily of that which treats the cell membrane, enzymes and genes, etc. of cancer cells independently, attempts to indicate xe2x80x9cabsolute specificityxe2x80x9d within them, and is biased towards a substance-oriented approach that includes identification of form and structural substances, elucidation of gene structure and so forth.
However, since there are vast numbers of atoms and molecules that compose cells, attempting to structurally define xe2x80x9cwhat is meant by cancer cellsxe2x80x9d by sorting all of these vast numbers of substances and their forms, etc. into normal cells and cancer cells is considered to be nearly impossible. Consequently, in the case of research methods thus far that have employed a substance-oriented approach, it was difficult to identify what cancer cells mean and adequate results have yet to be obtained.
Therefore, as was previously disclosed in the prior applications of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-285286, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-285296, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-286739 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-286740, the inventor of the present invention has proposed a method for clarifying the xe2x80x9cabsolute specificityxe2x80x9d of bioactivity (organic substances such as cells, or organic bodies in the form of aggregates of those organic substances) based on physical aspects.
This method employs thermodynamic and statistical mechanical methods that perceives each cell in the form of a macroscopic system, and indicates the xe2x80x9cabsolute specificityxe2x80x9d of its bioactivity by focusing on the energy state of that system. Namely, this method entraps the biochemical mechanism of bioactivity within a black box, identifies the atoms and molecules that serve as the constituent elements of cells and so forth by spectral analysis that includes their quantum states, and then controls their bioactivity. More specifically, this involves, for example, detecting the characteristic spectrum of cancer cells and then planning and designing an anti-cancer agent having a spectrum that interacts with the resonance of that characteristic spectrum.
However, in the determination of the type of a disease and its condition, a method is desired that allows rapid evaluation of condition and so forth based on viable cells sampled from a specimen. In addition, in the development of a drug and so forth, a screening method is required that is able to efficiently screen for an organism or substance having the target effect or ability among a large population.
The methods of the inventions of the prior applications previously mentioned made it possible to rapidly perform determination of the type and condition of a disease or selection of a drug by an extremely simple method in the form of spectral analysis. However, the accuracy of that determination was not always adequate, and there is still a strong desire for the realization of a more efficient screening method.
In consideration of the above points, the object of the present invention is to provide a disease type and/or condition determination method and apparatus that enable rapid and accurate evaluation, along with a drug screening method and apparatus that enables more efficient screening of a target drug, by performing spectral analysis of the energy state of cells and drugs and processing those results using a plurality of spectra as indices.
In order to achieve the above object, the disease type and/or condition determination method according to the present invention determines the type and/or condition of a disease by analyzing the absorption or emission spectrum in a specific region of cells obtained from a specimen, and using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers within the above specific region as indices in accordance with the results of the spectral analysis.
In such a method, in addition to being able to determine the type and/or condition of a disease by a simple method in the form of performing spectral analysis of cells obtained from a specimen, by evaluating and processing the results of spectral analysis by using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers in a specific wavelength region as indices, determination of disease type and so forth can be performed more reliably.
With respect to the above method for determining disease type and/or condition, the above specific region should include the infrared region (and preferably any part or the entire range of 10.0 to 13157.9 cmxe2x88x921). In addition, this method is able to determine whether or not the specimen is cancer, and in this case, one of the wave numbers of the spectrum used as an index should be 1261 cmxe2x88x921 (and preferably 1261.4 cmxe2x88x921). Moreover, it is also possible to determine whether or not a cell has specific bacteria, and drug resistance bacteria are a specific example of the above specific bacteria. In addition, it is also possible to determine whether or not a cell is infected by a specific virus.
In addition, the apparatus for diagnosing disease type and/or condition according to the present invention is composed of spectral analysis means that analyzes the absorption spectrum or emission spectrum in a specific region of cells obtained from a specimen, and diagnostic means that diagnoses disease type and/or condition by using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers within the above specific region as indices in accordance with the results of spectral analysis obtained with the spectral analysis means.
The drug screening method according to the present invention performs screening of a target drug by analyzing the absorption spectrum or emission spectrum of the target drug in a specific region using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers within the specific region as indices in accordance with the results of the spectral analysis.
According to the drug screening method, in addition to enabling rapid screening by using a simple method in the form of spectral analysis of a target drug, by performing screening by using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers within a specific region as indices, a drug having the desired effect and capability can be more reliably extracted.
In the above drug screening method, the above specific region should include the infrared region (and preferably any part or the entire range of 10.0 to 13157.9 cmxe2x88x921). In addition, screening can be performed using an anti-cancer agent for the target drug, and in this case, one of the wave numbers of the spectrum used as an index should be 1261 cmxe2x88x921 or 1163 cmxe2x88x921 (and preferably 1261.4 cmxe2x88x921 or 1163.1 cmxe2x88x921). Moreover, it is also possible for the target drug to be an antibiotic, and a specific example of an antibiotic is that which is effective against drug resistance bacteria. In addition, the target drug can also be an anti-viral agent.
The drug screening apparatus according to the present invention is composed of spectral analysis means that analyzes the absorption or emission spectrum in a specific region of a target drug, and screening means that screens the above target drug by using the appearance of spectra corresponding to at least two wave numbers in the above specific region as indices in accordance with the results of spectral analysis obtained with the said spectral analysis means.